Director General unveils DHA operational structure with five 'health' directorates

He has also appointed Dr Haidar Al Yousuf as Chief of the Sector Accountability and Performance Directorate.

Commenting on the structure, the Director General said:

"We are now starting to appoint our senior team to help deliver all the values and benefits that the DHA brings to the healthcare sector in Dubai."

He adds: "The DHA has a very busy programme over the next few months. This includes helping to draft and implement a new health strategy for Dubai, a comprehensive E-Health strategy, implementing new medical guidelines and population health initiatives as well as the new funding and regulation measures which will be launched in the near future."

Reporting directly to The Director General, Dr Haidar Al Yousuf has been appointed the chief of the Sector Accountability and Performance, managing and reviewing the DHA programme as it moves forward, helping to improve the quality of healthcare in Dubai.

Dr Al Yousuf will also continue his role in assisting the Director General in co-ordinating all DHA setup activities as the organisation looks to restructure the healthcare sector in Dubai over the next four years, completing in 2012.

Dr Al Yousuf is a Family Physician graduate of Dundee University, a leading medical school in the UK, he is also an alumnus of the prestigious, Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership development program. Prior to his role at the DHA, Dr Al Yousuf was the Transition Director of the Community Development Authority (CDA). He was responsible for the successful completion of the set-up and implementation of its first stage, taking part in delivering one of the components of the social arm of the Dubai strategic plan announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, in February 2007 to ensure the future sustainable development of Dubai.

Before the CDA, Dr Al Yousuf was the Executive Director of 'Takamul', a Government of Dubai initiative supporting and empowering people with special needs in the areas of Health, Education, Employment and Accessibility.

Commenting on his appointment, The Director General said: "I would like to thank Dr Al Yousuf for the work he is doing on the DHA transition programme. We are now in the process of appointing our senior team who will support me in our drive to provide universal access to quality, accessible and affordable healthcare for everyone living and working in Dubai. I very much look forward to working alongside him in his important new role monitoring the progress of the reforms we are implementing."

In addition to the Sector Accountability and Performance, the four other Directorates are:

- Strategy and Innovation - following the appointment of Dr Peyvand Khaleghian earlier last month, this Directorate will be responsible for all high level health strategy in Dubai. It will look to produce a formal Health Strategy for Dubai which will be published in the first half of 2009. It will also assist the DHA in the analysis of all health trends, issues and statistical data associated with healthcare planning in Dubai to ensure that the people of Dubai are getting the right care at the right cost.

- Quality & Population Health - this Directorate will co-ordinate and set all medical standards and guidelines liaising directly with the DHA's health regulation team who have the responsibility for detailing out and implementing these. The team will be responsible for ensuring the standard of healthcare delivered. It will also be responsible for delivering a new public health strategy, working across Government to ensure the health and physical well-being of the whole community in a healthy environment.

- Sector Knowledge and Information - further to the recent DHA announcement, this Directorate will take over responsibility from the Department of Health and Medical Services (DoHMS) for the DHA's E-Health strategy including data intelligence, data management systems as well as all medical and health care data collection and statistics. This will include the patient registration details required for the DHA's new health funding system as well as all strategic data collection required by the Government to undertake and implement its ongoing health strategy and forward health planning commitments. It will not include any identifiable patient's clinical information which was previously collected by DoHMS.

- Corporate Services - This Directorate will be responsible for the support services needed by the DHA to play its role. These include human resources, IT, finance and media and marketing.

The DHA is due to make further announcements regarding the heads of the remaining Directorates in the near future.